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HORATIO KING. 


For those who loved, admired and revered the subject 
of this sketch from earliest recollection, to write an 
impartial biography is not an easy matter. His long 
and honorable life was without spot or blemish in our 
sight, and, to avoid the appearance of undue partiality, 
reliance shall mainly be made upon the comments of those 
who knew him intimately, although not connected by 
ties of consanguinity. 

Horatio King, the son of Samuel and Sally (Hall) 
King, was born in Paris, Maine, June 21, 1811. He 
was the seventh born of eleven children, of whom but one 
is now living, Cyrus S. King, of Washington, D. C. His 
father was a farmer, and emigrated from Massachusetts. 
His grandfather was George King, of Raynham, in the 
State last named, who, with his three brothers, served in 
the war for independence. George was orderly sergeant 
and clerk of the Raynham Company, and one of his 
brothers fell in the war. Like most of the old and 
patriotic stock of the Revolution and their immediate 
descendants, his ancestral relatives were stanchly demo¬ 
cratic, which may, so far as early impressions go, account 
for Mr. King’s political leaning. 

Mr. King, always very studious, supplemented by care¬ 
ful study and voluminous reading and research the edu¬ 
cation which the common schools afforded. To a 
strong, practical training he added by his own exer¬ 
tions unusual literary culture, acquiring among other 
accomplishments a good knowledge of the French 
language, which aided him greatly in his subsequent 
official career. 



2 


The whole course of his education, meaning by that 
word the training of mind and body to the full develop¬ 
ment of their powers and usefulness, was thoroughly 
practical. For the elementary knowledge essential or 
highly useful to every pursuit in life, such as reading, 
spelling, writing, grammar, arithmetic, and geography, 
there were no better schools in the world than the com¬ 
mon schools of New England, of which, in childhood and 
early youth, he enjoyed the full benefits ; and for the 
useful concerns of life, a knowledge of human nature, of 
human character, and of our political and social condi¬ 
tions and institutions, never to be learned or understood 
in college, perhaps no one pursuit is so truly and widely 
useful as that of the printer and newspaper editor. 

While still a youth, in the spring of 1829, he went 
into the office of the Jeffersonian , a thorough Jacksonian 
Democratic paper, then published in his native town. 
In about a year he became one of the owners, and six 
months after sole proprietor, being then about nineteen 
years of age, employing a village teacher, at a salary of 
twelve York shillings a week, to assist him in editing the 
sheet. In 1832 he cast his first vote for General Jackson, 
and soon after assumed the entire editorial management 
f his paper. Its files show him to have been consistent 
and earnest in his denunciation of South Carolina nullifi¬ 
cation, and throughout General Jackson’s administration 
the Jeffersonian firmly, consistently and energetically sup¬ 
ported the old hero; and when Mr, Van Buren, by the 
refusal of the Senate to confirm his nomination, was re¬ 
called from England, where, during the recess, the Presi¬ 
dent had sent him as minister, the Jeffersonian was among 
the first papers in the country to run up his name for the 
Presidency. 

In 1833 the unfortunate division of the Democracy of 
Maine took place, and Mr. King was induced to remove 
his press to Portland in May of that year. The conse¬ 
quence was a sharp party quarrel on State and local 
matters, which lasted two or three years, when many of 


3 


his principal competitors, with their journalists at their 
head, went over bodily to the enemy, the Whigs. From 
first to last, he combated with like zeal, every scheme 
which looked toward disunion. 

He continued to edit the Jeffersonian until 1838, when 
he sold the paper to the Standard, which was soon after 
merged into the Eastern Argus , and the Jeffersonian may be 
said to still live in the columns of that sturdy advocate of 
Democratic principles. This terminated his professional 
connection with the public press. 

If anything more were wanting to complete his 
practical education and his knowledge of business 
and of human nature, what better school could have been 
found than that which he enjoyed in his twenty-two 
years’ connection with all the various concerns and opera¬ 
tions of the Post Office Department? There, if any¬ 
where, the whole lesson was presented, and by a careful, 
diligent, and intelligent observer could be thoroughly 
learned. In that school, as was proved by his successive 
promotions, and especially by his eminent fitness for and 
usefulness in the responsible and important positions 
which he occupied, he was neither an indifferent nor an 
unsuccessful student. Gifted with a clear head, a quick 
perception, and indomitable industry, coupled with 
firm resolution to know thoroughly whatever his actual 
business or pursuit rendered it necessary or desirable for 
him to know, and brought continually into contact with 
shrewd, active minds, his business training was most 
complete and effectual. 

In the fall of 1838 Mr. King went to Washington to 
look for a newspaper opening, and, not finding one to 
his mind, in March, 1839 accepted a clerkship at 
$1,000 per annum in the Post Office Department, ten¬ 
dered him by the then Postmaster General, Amos Ken¬ 
dall. Thus, at the foot of the ladder, he commenced that 
connection which proved alike beneficial to the country 
and honorable to himself, and whence he climbed, every 
step marked by his ability and energy, to the chief posi- 


4 


tion. He thus had the proud distinction of being the only 
person who has ever started in the lowest clerkship 
and ended with the highest office in the Department, that 
of Postmaster-General. For years he was corresponding 
clerk for New England in the contract office, a post of 
considerable responsibility, and requiring for the pro¬ 
per discharge of its duties the closest application and 
great labor. 

Toward the close of 1850 he was placed in charge of 
the foreign mail service. In this connection his services 
were of the most efficient character, and fully entitled 
him to the lasting gratitude of his countrymen, from the 
success which, under his management, attended the effort 
to extend and improve our postal arrangements with 
foreign nations. In these days, when lines of steamships 
map the ocean as lines of railroad do the land, when 
almost every important commercial city of the world has 
its corresponding connection with this country, whoever 
really and essentially has improved this branch of the 
service has conferred a benefit upon nations which not 
only the present age, but future generations will fully 
appreciate. 

Up to 1851, no postal conventions had been entered 
into with any European governments except Great 
Britain and Bremen; and thus, as has been well said by 
another, “an entirely new field was left to be explored, 
and one which, in view of the various lines of Atlantic 
steamers, just then projected and becoming more and 
more objects of interest and attention, opened not only 
an untried field, but one of vast complications and per¬ 
plexities.” It was to this wide and interesting scope of 
endeavor that he was invited, and the results which 
followed were eminently his work. To his comprehen¬ 
sive genius and that characteristic energy which he pos¬ 
sessed in the highest degree, the nation is primarily 
indebted for those splendid results which have extended 
our postal arrangements to every part of the commercial 
world and gone hand and hand with the rapidly ad- 


5 

vancing strides which steam and lightning have taken in 
every direction. Here he had opportunity for every 
latent energy of his mind. He was obliged to familiarize 
himself with statistics and with a vast range of inquiries 
not heretofore made in this country. He found the 
postal arrangements already made with Great Britain 
and Bremen imperfect and unsatisfactory. They were 
revised and improved. With regard to Bremen, he and 
Hon. Rudolph Schleiden, the then Bremen Minister, pre¬ 
pared articles of agreement, approved by their respective 
governments, by which the half ounce letter rate was 
reduced from twenty cents (then, 1853, the lowest rate 
to Europe) to ten cents, which was the beginning of low 
postage across the Atlantic. Besides this, postal ar¬ 
rangements were soon in rapid succession effected with 
the West Indies, with several of the South American 
countries, and with Prussia, France, Hamburg, and Bel¬ 
gium. 

To credit these results to the subject of this sketch 
does not at all detract from or depreciate the merits or 
services of his official superiors. They are justly en¬ 
titled to the general credit of these important arrange¬ 
ments, in the same degree that the President enjoys the 
credit of a successful administration of the affairs of the 
Government. In both cases the laborious details are 
planned, arranged, and perfected by assistants and ad¬ 
visers, yet as the responsibility mainly attaches to the 
head, so the general credit should follow ; but this de¬ 
tracts nothing from the merits or the just appreciation 
of the laborious and intelligent subordinate, who ascer¬ 
tains facts, systematizes and arranges details, and in 
reality formulates the entire matter, which the superior 
has only to examine and sanction. In this respect Mr. 
King, in the work of these postal arrangements, is en¬ 
titled to the very highest credit, as no one could have 
performed the duties of his position with greater correct¬ 
ness and ability. 

In the spring of 1854, on the death of Major Hobbie, 


6 


Mr. King, without solicitation on his part, was appointed 
by President Pierce to the office of First Assistant Post¬ 
master-General. To his subordinates he was considerate, 
kind, and obliging; never acting captiously nor finding 
fault without just cause. One secret of his official suc¬ 
cess was his exactitude in keeping all his business in 
hand (his desk at the close of each day being always clear 
of papers), and his positive requirement of his clerks that 
everything sent to their desks should receive prompt 
attention. It may be mentioned here, also, that he never 
allowed his office door to be locked, but was always 
ready to receive official callers without any hindrance 
or embarrassment of personal introduction. 

His success in dealing with so many men of all parties 
and all positions in life without making enemies was re¬ 
markable. It may, perhaps, be accounted for in two 
ways: that he had no personal interest to subserve, and 
manifestly cared only to know and to do what was right; 
and that, when obliged to refuse a request, he remem¬ 
bered and practiced the old saying, that “ to refuse kindly 
what is asked you is itself a boon.” 

As a public officer he was indefatigable, and de¬ 
voted his whole time and all the energies of his mind and 
body to the duties of his position. His constant endeavor 
was to have the work of the people, so far as he was con¬ 
cerned, well and faithfully executed. His efforts to pro¬ 
tect the Department against fraud and loss of revenue 
were persistent. He especially labored to defeat all at¬ 
tempts to use the mails without paying for the privilege 
in contravention of the law and to the detriment of an 
already overburdened Department. As one of the many 
evidences of his zeal in this matter may be noted the fact 
of his sitting up all night and laboring in the House of 
Representatives to secure the passage of the law re¬ 
quiring prepayment of postage on letters, which was 
actually passed at five o’clock on Sunday morning. The 
law exacting prepayment by stamps on transient printed 
matter was also drafted by him ; and no one having any 


7 


acquaintance with our postal affairs will need to be told 
that this law effects a large saving to the Department, 
both in respect to the weight of the mails and the extra 
amount of postage received. 

Few men ever had the hardihood to approach him 
with a dishonorable proposition of any kind. The repu¬ 
tation for stern integrity, and the possession of it, in 
a place like that filled by him, are of the very highest 
importance; and in both respects he was entirely suited 
to the position. His memory, too, of what occurred in the 
Department during his connection with it was remarka¬ 
ble, and showed that, unlike many officials, he was not 
satisfied with the simple performance of the routine 
duties of his office, but had an intelligent eye to the 
whole operations of each bureau, and a vivid and long- 
enduring recollection of whatever took place under his 
own particular supervision. 

Nor, while constantly engaged in business since the 
early age of nineteen, had he neglected the pursuit 
of literature or of science, but was proficient in both. 
Every leisure hour was always sedulously devoted to the 
acquirement of knowledge. 

As a writer his style was terse, simple, vigorous and 
manly. His points were clear, his arguments pertinent 
and forcible, and his language choice and chaste. 

As a politician he was always a firm and consistent 
Democrat, though not ultra. He lent a willing and 
hearty support to every Democratic administration from 
the time he was old enough to exercise the privileges of 
a citizen, and since 1861 approved every act of the Re¬ 
publican party that made for good government and the 
best interests of the people. 

He held the position of First Assistant Postmaster- 
General until January i, 1861, when he became Acting 
Postmaster-General. February ist he was nominated by 
President Buchanan, and on the 12th confirmed by the 
Senate as Postmaster-General, serving in that capacity 
until the inauguration of President Lincoln and the ap- 


8 


pointment of his successor, March 7, 1861. He filled 
these important places with fidelity and distinguished 
ability. He was Postmaster-General when treason 
stalked with a bold front through the streets of the 
National Capital. As a life-long Democrat, he was in¬ 
tensely loyal, and remained so during the entire strug¬ 
gle. Though exempted by law from the performance of 
military duty, he furnished a representative recruit, who 
was duly mustered in and served in the Union Army. 
This exhibition of patriotism and public spirit received 
official acknowledgment from the Government. 

After retiring from the Post Office Department, he 
was appointed in April, 1862, one of a Board of Commis¬ 
sioners to carry out the provisions of the Emancipation 
Proclamation in the District of Columbia. This position 
was tendered him by President Lincoln unsolicited, and 
doubtless on account of his conspicuous services near the 
close of the previous administration. 

His associate commissioners were Daniel R. Goodloe 
and Dr. John M. Brodhead, with William R. Woodward 
as clerk, and B. M. Campbell as expert. Of this impor¬ 
tant work, Mr. Goodloe wrote : 

‘ ‘ The whole number of claims presented within the time limited 
by law was nine hundred and sixty-six and the number of slaves 
embraced by them was three thousand one hundred. Of these 
claims, thirty-six in whole and twenty-one in part were rejected as 
the result of our investigations, for reasons of disloyalty or for 
defects in the titles. These rejected claims embraced one hundred 
and eleven slaves, for whom compensation was withheld, and, as 
above stated, two thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine were 
paid for under the Act of April 16, 1862. 

“ In addition to these cases, thirteen other applications were 
made after the expiration of three months, that being the time 
within which petitions were required by the act to be presented. 
Under the circumstances of absence and ignorance of the existence 
of the law, it was decided to value the slaves, twenty-eight in 
number, embraced in these thirteen cases, and recommend them to 
the favorable consideration of Congress. The claims were all paid 
by special appropriations. The total number of slaves paid for, 
therefore, was three thousand and seventeen. The twenty-eight 


9 


above referred to fell below the average, the award for them being 
only $9,912.50. The commissioners recommended also two or 
three other cases to Congress—cases in which the right of the 
slaves to freedom under the act was contested on the ground that 
they were here as runaways. In such instances the commissioners 
leaned to the side of freedom, but at the same time were not un¬ 
willing for the parties to have the benefits of the law as loyal 
claimants. ” 

The duty having been expeditiously and satisfactorily 
completed, the Commissioners waited upon President Lin¬ 
coln. “ He received us,” says Mr. Goodloe, “ as he did 
every one, with the frankness and cordiality of the hon¬ 
est and true-hearted man he was. When we informed 
him that we had finished our work, he replied that he 
was glad to know that somebody had finished something, 
and that he wished his work was done. After some 
pleasant conversation our Commission retired, and ad¬ 
journed sine die” 

The service of the Commission was limited to nine 
months, and, on leaving office, Mr. King became an at¬ 
torney before the executive departments and inter¬ 
national commissions, which profession he followed until 
about 1875, when he retired as far as practicable from 
active business. He twice made the tour of Europe, first 
in 1867 and again in 1875-76. The latter tour was some¬ 
what more extended than the first, and on his return he 
published a book entitled “ Sketches of Travel, or Twelve 
Months in Europe.” While not a fluent speaker, he was 
for years a ready and strong writer for newspapers and 
magazines on political, historical, and literary subjects, 
some of the articles being translations from the French. 
He delivered an oration before the Union Literary Society 
of Washington, D. C., in 1841, which was published. He 
also originated a series of Saturday evening literary enter¬ 
tainments at his private residence, which became very 
popular and contributed very much to elevate the liter¬ 
ary tone of the city. February 2, 1884, the one hun 
dredth meeting was held, and the proceedings, at the 


IO 


request of many citizens, were printed in a neat pamphlet 
of forty-eight pa^es. 

His somewhat eventful life was one of great use¬ 
fulness. In all the positions he filled he inaugurated 
important improvements, including, within the last few 
years, that of the official “ Penalty Envelope,” a conveni¬ 
ent and economical device ; used by all the Departments 
of the Government in franking official mail matter, and 
which, it is estimated, has saved the Government at least 
$100,000 every year since its introduction. He labored 
at least seven years with Congress to have this device 
ordered by law, and neither received nor expected any 
compensation for his efforts. It was simply “ a labor of 
love” for the good of the service and the benefit of the 
Government. 

This was only one of his many good deeds. He was 
always a public spirited citizen. For sixteen years he 
took great pleasure in his duties as a member, and most 
of the time as Secretary, of the Washington National 
Monument Society, and had the great satisfaction of wit¬ 
nessing the completion and dedication of the beautiful 
marble obelisk, a magnificent tribute to the memory of 
the Father of His Country. Congress, having put the 
monument and everything concerning it under the 
charge of the War Department, and the work allotted to 
the Society having been accomplished, he, with other of 
his associates, tendered their resignations. He resolutely 
and successfully opposed the placing in the monument of 
a large and elaborate tablet containing the names of the 
members of the Society, declaring that the monument 
was not erected for their glorification. 

In 1894, Mr. King was induced to collect his most 
important writings, and in 1895 they were published 
in a handsome volume entitled “ Turning on the 
Light.” A brief biographical sketch and an excel¬ 
lent portrait preceded the selections. The volume is 
largely taken up with a defense of the administration 
of James Buchanan, complete and unanswerable. The 


I 


opportunities afforded Mr. King for a very thorough 
knowledge of the acts and motives which inspired Mr. 
Buchanan render his statements of the utmost value, and 
he had no fear but that future history would fully relieve 
the memory of that distinguished statesman from the 
aspersions inspired by ignorance or partisan rancor. 

It contained also many interesting articles both in 
prose and verse, some of them of a historical character 
and well worthy of perpetuation. 

Of the poetical articles, one especially seems to reach 
the standard of true poetry and is inserted here. 

LIFE. 

O Life ! what mystery thy birth enshrouds ! 

For ages past hath man in vain essayed 
This mystery to solve—thy origin to learn. 

O Soul! my soul! speak out and tell me clear, 

Whence came thou here ? whence thy deep yearning for 
Immortal life ? Methinks I hear thee say, 

‘ ‘ Be still and trust. In God we live and move, 

And have our being ; more we cannot know. ’ ’ 

Ah, true ! but this great truth, full well I know, 

Thy restless spirit ne’er will satisfy. 

In One all-ruling Power we must, we do 
Believe. No revelation, save what all 
May read in Nature’s open book, need we 
To prove that this is so. When we recall 
The countless wonders of the universe, 

From merest atom to the glorious sun, 

And stars, and planets, in their order, all 
In perfect harmony upborne—and earth, 

So fraught with beauty, grandeur, light, and life— 

All, all proclaim One over-ruling Hand. 

But this, does this assurance give that we, 

The vale of death once passed, shall live again ? 

That in a higher, purer sphere, our souls 
Shall mingle in communion sweet, and know, 

As we, in this life present, one another know ? 

Momentous questions these, that ever rise 
And constant audience seek. ’Tis true, the words 


12 


Of revelation come belief to claim— 

All doubt dispel; yet few, methinks, are there 

Who do not crave more light. Whence shall this come ? 

Whither to end all doubt, seek we for proof? 

Not, surely, in the groveling passions of 
The carnal heart, that drag to lowest depths 
And darkness dire; but upward, upward, where 
The mental vision scope may take afar, 

Without obstruction from the earth below, 

We can ascend. United by the bonds 
Of love, and taking for our guide the rule— 

The Golden Rule that never leads astray— 

Our souls may rise to regions clear, so full 
Of heavenly light that ’twixt eternal life 
And this, no barrier appears. 

In 1890, at Portland, Maine, Mr. King delivered a 
poem at the Annual Reunion of the Society of the Army 
of the Potomac, of which he was made an honorary 
member. 

In 1893 he was a guest of the city on the Centennial 
Anniversary of Portland. 

In June, 1896, he received the honorary degree of 
Doctor of Laws from Dickinson College, at which, many 
years before, he had read, at the Anniversary exercises 
of the Literary Societies, a poem entitled “ Employment 
Necessary to Happiness.” 

He passed the winters in Washington, and since 
1882, about four months each season resided at his sum¬ 
mer home in West Newton, Mass. One of his last 
thoughts expressed was the anticipation of soon leaving 
for his northern home. 

May 25, 1835, he married Anne Collins, of Portland, 
Maine, by whom he had seven children, only three of 
whom, Mrs. Annie A. Cole, of Washington, D. C., 
Horatio C. King, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Henry F. 
King, of West Newton, Mass., survive. The others died 
young. His first wife died September 22, 1869, and he 
married, February 8, 1875, Isabella G. Osborne, of 
Auburn, N. Y., who survives him. 


13 

In November, 1896, he had a severe attack of the 
grip, which for a week threatened his life. Although 
raiding from the disease, it left him greatly weakened 
and he failed rapidly. For the first time his handwriting, 
which had always been as steady, clear and legible as 
copperplate printing, was tremulous, and he wrote with 
evident difficulty. But his mental faculties remained 
active and his interest in public, and especially postal 
affairs, did not relax. In March he dictated a very earn¬ 
est plea to Hon. James W. Gary, the Postmaster General, 
against the removal of the Post Office Department to the 
new building on Pennsylvania Avenue, and urged the 
purchase of the block west of the old Department 
building for its proper extension. 

He talked freely of his expected departure, saying he 
was “ awaiting orders,” and that he was simply going to 
step across the street, as it were, and join his friends who 
had gone before. He was an advocate of cremation, 
and directed this disposition of his body months before 
his death. 

About ten days prior to his decease it was mani¬ 
fest that the end was rapidly approaching. The brain 
was still clear, and continued so to the very end, but the 
noble heart was nearly worn out. On the 18th of May, 
about 3 a. m., the members of the family resident in 
Washington were hastily summoned to his bedside, as he 
seemed to be dying; but he rallied, and in the afternoon 
his elder son arrived from New York, and spent five 
hours in pleasant communion with him, until called back 
by the death of his own daughter. The next morning, 
the younger son, with his wife, arrived from Boston, and 
although Mr. King died ten minutes later, there is no 
doubt but that he recognized their presence. 

Thus passed peacefully away a man whose whole life 
had been “ sans peur et sans reproche.” His career is one of 
the most remarkable in the history of this country. With 
opportunities for a very limited education, without strong 
political or social influence, he rose by his own exertions 



14 


and merit from a subordinate position to the head of the 
Post Office Department—an incident, as already stated, 
without parallel in the political annals of the United 
States. Through all administrations he commanded the 
respect of every one, and in the retirement of private 
life, for more than thirty-five years, he was held in the 
highest esteem by the people of Washington, and by all 
with whom he had social or business relations. The large 
attendance at the funeral services and the many testi¬ 
monials received, a part only of which are here pub¬ 
lished, give an inadequate idea of the high place he held 
in the hearts and minds of those who knew him. 

In his pocketbook were found these two sentiments, 
on paper yellow and worn with age:— 

“ We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 

In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 

We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives 
Who thinks most—feels the noblest—acts the best. ” 


‘ ‘ There is a land where every pulse is thrilling 

With raptures which Earth’s children may not know, 

Where sweet repose the storm-tossed heart is stilling, 

And harmonies celestial ever flow. ’ ’ 

His daily life was the exponent of both, and the se¬ 
renity with which he awaited the summons to go evinced 
his abiding faith in a blissful hereafter. 

He was a notable example to the youth of his 
country. Born and bred under circumstances which 
gave him no greater advantages than are enjoyed by a 
large majority of the young men of our Union, he at¬ 
tained by his own energy, industry, and perseverance, an 
exalted station, and made for himself a name and a repu¬ 
tation of which any man may well be proud. He suc¬ 
ceeded because he diligently and untiringly used the 
means, and the only sure means, to accomplish those 
ends. 



TESTIMONIALS. 


British Embassy, Washington, 
May 21, 1897. 

Dear Sir: I beg you to accept the assurance of my 
deep sympathy and that of Lady Pauncefote with you 
and your family in the loss you have sustained by the 
death of your distinguished father, which you have an¬ 
nounced to me with the request that we should attend the 
funeral service to-morrow at 3. Lady Pauncefote regrets 
that she will be unable to do so, but I will certainly avail 
myself of your permission to be present on that sad oc¬ 
casion. I remain, dear sir, 

Yours truly, 

Julian Pauncefote. 


Mr. Henry F. King. 


British Embassy, Washington, 
May 21, 1897. 

My Dear Sirs: I beg you will accept and convey to 
Mrs. King the sincere thanks of Lady Pauncefote and 
myself for the kind sentiments expressed in your note. It 
was a great satisfaction to us to offer our tribute of esteem 
and regard to the memory of your lamented father, whose 
eminent talents and great charm of character we fully 
appreciate. 

Believe me, very truly yours, 

Julian Pauncefote. 
To Messrs. H. C. and H. F. King. 

Washington, May 21, 1897. 
Mr. Henry F. King, Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir: I was very sorry to hear of the death of my 
dear friend the Honorable Horatio King, and I beg of you 


6 


to express to Mrs. King, Mrs. Romero’s and my own 
deepest sympathy in her bereavement. * * * 

I am very respectfully, 

M. Romero. 

(Mexican Minister.) 

Department of State, Washington, D. C., 
May 24, 1897. 

Mr. Henry F. King. 

My Dear Sir: It was a matter of sincere regret that 1 
was not able to attend your father’s funeral, on account of 
an engagement made which I could not very well avoid. 
I had the highest respect for him when living, and deeply 
deplore his death. He was honorable in all things, and 
especially serviceable in the public positions he held under 
the Government. 

Very truly yours, 

John Sherman. 

Navy Department, Washington, 
May 21, 1897. 

My Dear Mr. King: Allow me to express my great 
sympathy with you in the death of your father, Hon. 
Horatio King, and the great respect which I entertain for 
his memory. His death is a matter of peculiar sadness to 
me, remembering as I do that he came from the same 
county in which I was born, and the great credit he re¬ 
flected upon the place by his activity. * * * 

Very sincerely yours, 

John D. Long. 

Henry F. King, Esq., Washington, D. C. 

Office of the Postmaster-General, 
Washington, D. C., May 21, 1897. 

My Dear Sir: Please pardon the tardiness of this ac¬ 
knowledgment of your note of yesterday, informing me 
of the death of your distinguished father, ex-Postmaster- 
General King. 


1 7 

I have ordered the flags of this Department to be hung 
at half mast to-day and to-morrow. * * * 

It would not be possible for me adequately to express 
the affectionate regard of the entire body of employees of 
this Department for your lamented father. 

Believe me, very truly yours, 

Jas. A. Gary. 


Washington, D. C., May 25, 1897. 

Henry F. King, Esq. 

My Dear Mr. King: Absence in New York on Sat¬ 
urday last prevented my attendance at your father’s 
funeral. Had I been in Washington, I should have felt it 
a duty to attend, because of the official bond between 
us, but this, I assure you, would have been the least 
of the motives impelling me to do honor to his 
memory. For many years, long before my entrance into 
public life, or my accession to the position he had so 
honorably attained, I was permitted to enjoy his acquaint¬ 
ance and his friendship. His public career was truly a 
remarkable one, a rich heritage to his family and an in¬ 
spiration to his countrymen. To have advanced by 
successive steps and by merit alone, from a minor clerk¬ 
ship to the head of his Department, and to have left be¬ 
hind him so many monuments of usefulness and faithful 
public service, is a tribute to his memory in the perma¬ 
nent record of his country which no words of eulogy can 
equal or approach. No wonder his long years of after 
life were so bright and so honored by the respect and 
confidence of his fellow-citizens. I have often admired, 
and especially in recent years, the cheerful serenity of his 
old age, his kindly interest in all things that affected his 
fellow-men, and his warm-hearted and intelligent patriot¬ 
ism, all founded on consciousness of official duty well 
done and of a blameless and honored private life. 

While I sympathize with you in the natural sorrow at 
the death of a beloved father, I felicitate you that the 


i8 

record of his life is so full of comfort and of great pride 
to his children. 

Very sincerely yours, 

Wm. L. Wilson. 

(Ex-Postmaster-General.) 

Committee on Naval Affairs, 

House of Representatives, U. S. 

May 24, 1897. 

My Dear Mrs. King : * * * I thank you for remem¬ 

bering me at so sad a time for you, and wish I might have 
been able to pay tribute by my presence to the eminent 
character of one who has reflected so much honor upon 
his native State, and whose genial temperament and un¬ 
failing courtesy render it a pleasure to feel that he re¬ 
garded me as a friend. * * * 

I am, sincerely yours, 

C. A. Boutelle. 


Hotel Maryland, 
May 21, 1897. 

My Dear Mrs. King: I wish to tender you my sincerest 
sympathy in your great—I may say double sorrow—the 
loss of your husband and grand-daughter. As the last 
surviving member of my uncle’s cabinet, and one who has 
been unfaltering in his friendship—ever loyal and true to 
his old chief—I feel especially grieved at this news. I 
hope to be present at the funeral, if at Washington, and I 
can learn the time and place in season to attend. 

Renewing my expressions of sincerest condolence to 
you and to the General, believe me, dear Mrs. King, 
Yours faithfully, 

J. Buchanan Henry. 


63 Mount Vernon St., Boston, 
June, 1897. 

Mrs. Horatio King. 

Dear Madam : It is with profound regret and sorrow 


19 

that I learned of the “ passing away ” of your distin¬ 
guished and noble husband. He had been so long before 
the public eye that he seemed to be for the present, and 
that no “ past ” was to be written against his unsullied 
name. 

In summer we expected to find him in West Newton 
and in winter at your hospitable home in Washington. 
His fame is in his country’s history, and his memory will 
be cherished with loving remembrance by all who had 
the pleasure of his acquaintance. * * * 

With the highest respect and cordial regard, I am, 
Truly )^ours, 

William Claflin. 

(Ex-Governor of Massachusetts.) 

Office of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. A., 
Washington, D. C., 

May 23, 1897. 

Dear Mrs. King: * * * A great man has passed away, 
a noble soul has been called before the Great White 
Throne and has been welcomed by the King of Kings, 
with those glorious words: “Well done, thou good and 
faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things, 
I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into 
the joy of thy Lord.” 

The thought of death brings but little dread to men 
like your noble husband; he realized the beautiful idea 
conveyed in a couplet I read not tong since, which is so 
touching that I repeat it: 

‘ ‘ I know not where his islets lift 
Their fronded palms in air, 

I only know I cannot drift 
Beyond His love and care. ’ ’ 

* •* * * 

Sincerely yours, 

John M. Wilson, 
Brig.-Gen., Chief of Engineers. 


20 


Mrs. Horatio King. 

Dear Mrs. King: I must send you a line of affectionate 
sympathy in your sorrow. The death of your good hus¬ 
band, the life long friend of dear Mr. Winthrop, recalls 
many happy meetings we have had at Brookline and in 
your own home, which I know will seem very lonely. 
May God comfort you. 

Yours affectionately, 

Julia G. Irving. 

1205 K Street, May 21, 1897. 

My Dear Mrs. King: The news received yesterday 
comes heavily laden with sincere grief to each member of 
my family. 

Your dear husband was a fast friend of mine, and 
among the first I made in Washington, now nearly forty 
years ago. 

He was a true man in the broadest and best sense, and 
has surely “ joined the choir invisible of the immortal 
dead who live again in minds made better by their pres¬ 
ence ” here on earth. * * * 

Respectfully, 

A. S. Solomons. 

Washington, D. C., May 21, 1897. 

Dear Mrs. King: * * * A long and most agreeable ac¬ 
quaintance enables me to know his many rare excellencies 
of head and heart, and I deeply grieve at his departure. 
It is the lot of but few men to leave a record of so long, 
useful and honorable a life and so fragrant a memory of 
the most kindly and genial social relations, which your 
good husband so eminently enjoyed. 

Sincerely yours, 

J. Ormond Wilson. 

1116 Thirteenth Street, Sunday Morning. 

Dear Mrs. King : The inclosed I had with me yesterday 


21 


p. m., and became so excited and oppressed by the de¬ 
serted temple of the great and noble soul that had es¬ 
caped that I was utterly overcome. 

As I stepped around for the full face, I was startled by 
the effigy of natural sleep, which the serene and noble 
head and face wore. Surely that head would live, the 
eyes and mouth open, melt into a smile, and lips utter the 
usual pleasant greeting! * * * 

Most sincerely yours, 

A. G. Riddle. 

Mrs. Horatio King. 


No. 1621 H Street, Washington, D. C., 
May 22, 1897. 

Dear Sir: Mrs. Davis and I are very much touched by 
your letter of the 20th, which reaches us this morning. 
It was my purpose to testify the great respect and esteem 
in which I held your honored father in his lifetime, by 
being present at the services to-day. Mrs. Davis would 
have done the same had she not an engagement elsewhere 
which she cannot break. Please present her and my 
warm sympathy to Mrs. King and the family. 

Yours very truly, 

J. C. Bancroft Davis. 

Henry F. King, Esq. 


1679 Thirty-first Street, N. W., 
Washington, D. C., May 26, 1897. 

Dear Annie and Mary: I can no longer refrain from 
writing to express my deepest sympathy for you both in 
your great loss. It must indeed be a bitter cup of sorrow 
for you to drink when I can feel so grieved, who am not 
at all related to him and have seen so little of him for 
years. Yet, as I stood and looked at his face, chilled by 
death, which I had so often seen to brighten with interest 
in the presence of a friend, 3. thousand memories of the 
old days when I first knew him rushed across my mind. 


22 


He seemed to have been reared upon the milk of human 
kindness, and ever ready to give of his very best; happy, 
indeed, if he could please his friends. 

Over twenty years ago, your father inaugurated the 
“ Literary Reunions,” which proved to be the most enter¬ 
taining association held here for many years. During 
these now historic evenings, scarcely a man or woman of 
note visited our city without enjoying the “ King Re¬ 
unions.” And all pronounced them the simplest and at 
the same time the most enjoyable of any literary circle 
ever before held in Washington. * * * The Reunions 
were continued to the delight and instruction of all who 
attended them. Nearly every subject in English litera¬ 
ture, science, art, and music was read, declaimed, satir¬ 
ized, sang or played, spiced with many dishes of the 
purest humor. For the guests, it would be impossible to 
remember the half of the distinguished people entertained 
in those historic rooms. * * * 

Your father was always pleased when a friend of his 
had been fortunate in business, or was successful in his 
ambitions. There was no envy or jealousy in his nature. 

These are only memories now. But a pleasant memory 
is a great factor in life. I would that these memories 
might come to you often, and stay with you long, to drive 
away the shadows until the time when the call shall come 
which shall unite you both to him in a world where 
shadows never come. 

Your friend, 

Mary E. Nealy. 

Kensington, Md., May 21, 1897. 
My Dear Mrs. King: * * * Mr. King was a public 
spirited citizen with right desires for the general good. 
I remember him in earlier days when in the enjoyment of 
vigorous manhood he was always anxious to do his part. 
His interest was for many years potently felt in the devel¬ 
opment of the social life of the newer Washington; as old 
age crept upon him and claimed his energy, he, of course, 


23 

had to withdraw from many of the activities which for¬ 
merly engaged him. He was, however, always helpful, 
and he held to the last an honorable place in the affairs of 
the National Capital. 

I can do no more to comfort you than to extend my 
sincere sympathy, and bring to your notice that you have 
the kindly interest and respect of thousands of people 
whom you do not know and from whom you may have no 
outward expression. 

Sincerely your friend, 

B. H. Warner. 

Mrs. Horatio King. 


Rochester, N. Y., May 20, 1897. 

Dear General King : * * * You have, as have all who 
knew and loved your father, the dear delight of beautiful 
memories. The passing from this life of such a man, ripe 
and rich in years and character, while it makes this world 
poorer, makes all that pertains to true manhood and citi¬ 
zenship seem more worthy of attainment. We are com¬ 
forted to have been honored by the regard of one who 
knew how to make life worth living. * * * 

Most sincerely yours, 

H. S. Greenleaf. 

1751 P Street, May 21, 1897. 

Dear Mrs. King: I send you for myself and for my 
family our condolence. My memory of Mr. King runs 
back through a long series of years, every one of which 
is marked by some special monument of his kind heart. 
He will always occur to me as one who loved our city on 
its intellectual side. The recollection of one so good will, 
I am sure, mitigate your sorrow. Let me be among those 
who lay this tribute of respect upon his grave. 

I am, ever sincerely yours, 

O. T. Mason. 

(Smithsonian Institution.) 


Mrs. Horatio King. 


24 


St. Helene, Des Moines, Iowa, 
May 22, 1897. 

My Dear Friend : * * * The first thought that came to 
me when we had all expressed our great sorrow at the 
first news yesterday morning, was this : Mr. King, more 
than any one I know, filled his life with duties and with 
deeds that were a constant striving for the higher and the 
better life; and his aspiration and his effort were a con¬ 
stant example and stimulus to the many who came near 
him and felt his influence. Mr. Byers feels this also so 
strongly that there could have been in his case no regret 
at having left undone what might have been done in his 
life. There was indeed no vacant niche, no idle moment; 
all was activity, sympathy—a betterment of his fellow- 
men. * * * 

Affectionately your friend, 

Margaret Byers. 

Department of Excise, 

New York, May 22, 1897. 

Dear General: * * * He was my friend, and he was 
also the loyal friend of his country. In the melancholy 
days when we had so little of pleasure or recreation, those 
Saturday evenings at his home in Washington were bright 
spots in many lives. There are but a few left of those 
who used to meet there. By far the greater number have 
passed beyond the view. Now our genial host has fol¬ 
lowed them, and the few of us who “lag superfluous on 
the stage” will not be long behind them. We shall be 
much more fortunate than I hope to be if, when our 
records are made up, they will show that we were as use¬ 
ful in our day and generation as General Horatio King. 
He has left to you, General, the legacy of an unspotted 
reputation and the example of a useful life. * * * 

Yours very truly, 

L. E. Chittenden, 
(Ex-Register of the Treasury.) 


Gen. Horatio C. King. 


25 


West Newton, Mass., May 23, 1897. 

Dear Grandma : * * * The earnest lesson taught me 
by his life is one I shall always cherish and never forget. 
His kingdom has come, and we who knew him as one who 
endeared himself to all by his many, many acts of kind¬ 
ness and friendship, know how surpassing great will be 
his reward. 

May your grief be lightened by time and the kind 
thoughts and deeds of those who would try to turn your 
sorrowing thoughts only into a sweet memory of the man 
whom we all loved so well. 

Your saddened, affectionate grandson, 

Roland. 


June 6, 1897. 

My Dear Mrs. King: I thank you for remembering me 
with the consoling and beautiful “ In Memoriam ” of your 
dear, good husband. His was a bright and beautiful life 
entitled to such a tribute. Of all I left behind in Wash¬ 
ington, I always keep in glad memory his hospitable home, 
and the grace and courtesy which adorned it, as well as 
the best type of the gentleman, whose welcome I was sure 
to meet. 

I am, truly yours, 

H. L. Dawes. 


Mrs. Horatio King, 

Washington, D. C. 


252 West Forty-second Street, New York, 
June 6, 1897. 

My Dear Mrs. King: Owing to serious indisposition, I 
crave indulgence for a laggard pen, in rendering tribute 
to the memory of your lamented husband. As an old 
friend of my family, Mr. King took kindly interest in my 
girlish effusions, and at his own instance placed several 
of my earliest poems with Forney’s Philadelphia Press , 
several of the Washington papers, and notably with the 
Southern Literary Messenger , published at Richmond, 


26 


Va. Favors of various kinds have flowed along with the 
current of the years. His last benefaction was the pro¬ 
curing for me of an autograph copy of “ America,” by its 
distinguished author, Rev. S. F. Smith, and possibly his 
last transcription, as his sudden death soon followed. I 
hold Mr. King’s many acts of kindness in grateful remem¬ 
brance. I had hoped to meet you both this summer, dur- 
ing your stay in Newton. With kind regards and deep 
sympathy for you and yours, 

I remain, yours most sincerely, 

(Mrs.) E. A. S. Page. 

HON. HORATIO KING. 

Obiit May 20, 1897. 

There opes, at last, on every human path, 

A mystic gate which turns on hinge of peace 
And lets us through to silence. In that hour 
Earth’s vain distinctions, pride of place or power, 

Riches and honors, fall to empty dust; 

But the clear record of an earnest life, 

Purposeful aims, and high ideals won— 

Stands unassailed by circumstance or change, 

And guards the memory from Oblivion’s touch, 

Safe as carved marbles. Friend of years lang syne, 

Whose added decades weave a golden round,— 

Henceforth no message from the busy pen 
Brings greeting, nor farewell; but in that land 
Where life moves on, to statelier rhythm set, 

And fair pursuits transcend our earthly dreams— 

Thy ripened powers shall find sublimer aims 
And bear rich fruitage through unending years. 

Mrs. E. A. S. Page;. 

June, 1897. 


Providence, R. I., May 22, 1897. 

Dear Aunt Isabel: 1 cannot refrain from expressing to 
you my deep sympathy in the death of Uncle Horatio. 
* * * I feel a sense of personal loneliness when I think 
that he is with us no longer. I was always very fond of 
him, and enjoyed meeting him so much, and though of 


27 

late we have not often been permitted to see each other, 
yet he had a large place in my affectionate esteem. * * * 
Affectionately yours, 

Henry M. King. 


Washington, May 21, 1897. 

Dear Madaip : * * * My long acquaintance with your 
distinguished husband only served to increase my respect 
for him, and I have many reasons for feeling thankful for 
his esteem and friendship. I am sure you must feel happy 
over the high reputation he obtained. * * * 

Very sincerely, 

Nathan A. C. Smith. 


Mrs. Horatio King. 


1905 N Street, Washington, D. C., 
May 20, 1897. 

My Dear Mrs. King: * * * Now that the end has 
come, I cannot forbear adding my tribute of respect to 
his memory and of heartfelt sympathy to you. His life 
has indeed had its full ripening, and his age (I cannot call 
it old age) has seemed to me happy and fruitful beyond 
the common lot. He seemed to have and enjoy the 
leisure of life’s evening, its freedom from strenuous com¬ 
petition and severe personal anxieties, while feeling so 
much less than most the weariness and exhaustion of one 
who has borne his full share of the heat and burden of 
the day. 

Most sincerely and affectionately your friend, 

Mary J. Eastman. 

3?4 Indiana Avenue, Washington, D. C., 
May 20, 1897. 

My Dear Mrs. King: Keen sorrow has marked the 
hours of this sad day. Mr. King was one of my oldest 
Washington friends. In the years that I have known him 
his course has always been that of the patriotic citizen 


28 


of the Republic, the honest man and the loyal and faith¬ 
ful friend. He has exercised a wide influence for good in 
his day and generation, and his passing leaves a space in 
life that will not soon be filled. His most enduring 
monument will be in the hearts of those who have known 
him well. * * * 

Sincerely yours, 

Mary Van Vranken. 

Newtonville, Mass., May 21, 1897. 

Dear Mrs. King: * * * We shall miss him in his sum¬ 
mer home. I used to enjoy my talks with him. I could 
not but think that he now knows what he was so curious 
to know. Those were pleasant gatherings at your house 
which we shall delight to remember. * * * 

Yours truly, 

(Rev.) H. J. Patrick. 

New York, June 18, 1897. 

Gen. Horatio C. King. 

My Dear General: * * * I deeply sympathize with 
you, dear general, in your recent bereavement and in the 
loss of such a magnificent father and wonderful man. He 
has adorned the public life of W ashington with the superb 
career of an honest statesman. 

Yours truly, 

Jas. R. O’Beirne, 
Commissioner of Public Charities. 

West Newton, May 21, 1897. 

Dear Mr. and Mrs. King: * * * We have known and 
felt honored in the friendship of your father these many 
years. His presence in our streets was a benediction to 
old and young ; so kind and courteous a gentleman exerts 
a most beneficial and uplifting influence to the whole 
village. 

It is this silent influence of your father which will not 
die as the body is removed from sight. “ He is not dead 


29 

but sleepeth,” can be said by you, Mr. King, as it was 
said of Lazarus by Jesus. 

Your friends, 

Mr. and Mrs. N. T. Allen. 

43 West Newton Street, Boston, Mass., 
May 23, 1897. 

My Dear Mrs. King: * * * It must be, however, a 
great comfort to you to think that your husband was 
spared to you for so many years; that his long life was 
one of great and continuous usefulness and honor, with¬ 
out a stain; that he was held in high esteem by all who 
knew him, including hundreds of the best and most emi¬ 
nent men in the nation; and that when he passed away, 
he “ fell like autumn fruit that mellowed longand 
though 

“ Fate seemed to wind him for fourscore years, 

Yet freshly he ran on five winters more 
Till, like a clock worn out with beating time, 

The wheels of weary life at last stood still. ” 

Your sincere friend, 

William Mathews. 

1622 Rhode Island Avenue, 
Monday, May 24. 

Dear Annie: It is three months to-day since my 
mother’s death, and I have been thinking a great deal 
about you during the last few days, well knowing what 
painful scenes you were passing through. 

Although your father had lived to very old age, and 
you could not have been unprepared to part with him, it 
is doubtless a severe trial. You were fortunate in having 
him so long. He was only one year my father’s senior, 
and he has been gone nearly fourteen years. And, like 
him, your father retained his faculties unimpaired, and 
was, I believe, in good physical condition until recently, 
which was a comfort to all concerned. 

I am sorry to think I shall not again see Mr. King. It 


30 

was always a pleasure to meet him. We had expected 
to pay him the respect of attending his funeral, but cir¬ 
cumstances arose which rendered it impossible. I shall, 
however, call upon you very soon. 

The old must die—but how very sad was the death of 
your niece ! I deeply sympathize with her father. My 
father’s heart was nearly broken by the death of my 
nineteen years old sister. 

With friendly sympathy and best wishes, I am, yours 
sincerely, Rebekah Black Hornsby. 

May 31, 1897. 

Dear Mrs. King: With unfeigned sorrow do I learn on 
my return home from the West of the death of your dear 
husband, my warm friend for many years. To have been 
present at his funeral would have been a sad satisfaction, 
but I was absent from the city at the time and knew noth¬ 
ing of the occurrence till now ; when I find a note from 
his son advising me. I need not say to you how greatly 
I valued your dear husband’s friendship, or how deeply 
I sympathize with you in your widowhood and loneli¬ 
ness. Oh, how rapidly they are passing over! May the 
Heavenly Father help us to bide our time, and when we 
are called may no fear affright us! 

Ever your sincere friend, 

B. Sunderland. 

Letters of condolence were also received from : Hon. 
Justin S. Morrill, General and Mrs. Miles, Hon. and 
Mrs. J. L. Mitchell, Mrs. Fannie W. Hotchkiss, Dr. 
A. D. Huntington, Hon. Daniel Morgan, Miss Charlotte 
L. Rockwell, Mrs. Florence A. Vance, Mrs. Mary E. 
MacArthur, Miss Anna MacArthur, Mrs. Sarah Ma- 
gruder, Prof, and Mrs. J. R. Eastman, Judge A. P. Hag- 
ner, Miss Anna McMaster, Mrs. Amy E. Drinkwater, 
Mrs. Louisa Hall, Mrs. Julia Schayer, Mrs. Abbey L. 
Philbrooke, Mrs. J. C. Cunningham, Mrs. A. L. Ruter 
Dufour, Mrs. M. J. M. Sweat, Mrs. Annie S. Page, Mrs. 
Laura W. Hodgkins, Mrs. Alice Key Browne, Mrs. 


3 


Mary V. Balentine, Mrs. Louisa D. Clark, Mrs. James 
C. Welling, Mrs. Louise Conness Rich, Miss Sarah C. 
Upton, Miss Isobel Leuman, Mrs. Lillian Barnard, Mrs. 
J. W. Parker, Mrs. Virginia Bestor, Mrs. M. W. Lowe, 
Mrs. Heloise M. Hersey, Mrs. Eleanor S. Hay, Mrs. J. 
Sayles Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Willard, Dr. and 
Mrs. J. S. Billings, Mrs. S. F. Smith, Judge and Mrs. 
Weldon, Mrs. Arthur H. Taber, Mrs. R. F. Rhees, Miss 
E. Hinckley, Miss Elizabeth King, Mrs. Fisher Ames, 
Mrs. M. Bellows, Mrs. Charles Wyman, Miss Grace D. 
Litchfield, Mrs. Henry Lambert, Mrs. Lucy Stagg 
(London), Mrs. E. S. Morse, Messrs. Madison Davis, 
Gardiner P. Gates, C B. Rheem, M. F. King, Asahel 
Wheeler, Otis Bigelow, Edward Tiffany and others. 





32 


NEWSPAPER COMMENTS. 

[Boston Herald , May 21.] 

Washington, D. C., May 20, 1897.—Gen. Horatio King, 
who was Postmaster-General in the Buchanan administra¬ 
tion, died at his home in this city, at 8:25 o’clock this 
morning, as a result of an attack of the grip during the 
winter, from which he never rallied. He had been con¬ 
fined to his home for some weeks. 


Horatio King was born in Paris, Me., in June, 1811. In 
his youth he learned the printer’s trade, and in his early 
manhood, in company with Hannibal Hamlin, he edited 
and published a newspaper called the Jeffersonian. In 
1839 he went to Washington as a clerk in the Post Office 
Department. He was gradually promoted until, in 1854, 
he became First Assistant Postmaster-General. This was 
during the term of Judge Campbell, of Pennsylvania, as 
Postmaster-General. Mr. King retained this position 
until he became Postmaster-General upon the appoint¬ 
ment of Joseph Holt, who was Buchanan’s second Post¬ 
master-General, as Secretary of War. In January, 1861, 
while he was Acting Postmaster-General, Mr. King, in his 
reply to a South Carolina member of Congress, was the 
first officially to deny the power of a State to separate 
from the Union. 

After his retirement from the Post Office Department, 
in March, 1861, Mr. King continued to live in Washington, 
except that he spent his summers in West Newton, Mass. 
His only governmental employment during these years 
was as a commissioner to carry into effect the emancipa¬ 
tion law in the District of Columbia. He continued to 
take a lively interest in matters pertaining to the post 
office. He helped materially, for instance, in the passage 
of the three acts of 1874, 1879 and 1885 respectively, pro¬ 
viding for the use by the executive departments of the 




33 


government of penalty envelopes which have saved a 
great amount of money to the government. Mr. King 
practiced law before the Departments, wrote to the local 
newspapers, and generally took an active interest in what 
was going on in the world. He was for many years Sec¬ 
retary of the Washington National Monument Associa¬ 
tion, resigning in 1894. 


Interviewed by a news reporter in 1894 at his sumtner 
home in West Newton, Gen. King said: ‘ I was not 
appointed a member of Buchanan’s original Cabinet. Gov. 
Brown, of Tennessee, was his choice for Postmaster- 
General upon his accession to the Presidency, and at 
his demise in 1859 Gen. Holt, of Kentucky, was appointed, 
who succeeded Floyd as Secretary of War in December, 
i860. I, the then First Assistant Postmaster-General, was 
appointed to fill the vacancy, making, I think I may be 
allowed to say without vanity or egotism, the first in¬ 
stance on record in the history of the republic where a 
man rose from the lowest clerkship to the head of the 
Department. 

“ My youth passed much the same as that of any boy 
brought up in the country towns of that time, and it was 
not until 1830 that I began to take an active interest in 
the outside world, then being nineteen years of age. 

“ At that time I was employed as—I think you would 
call it the printer’s devil, now—on a small weekly paper 
called the Jeffersonian , published in the town. Hannibal 
Hamlin was then interested in the paper, and it was in 
1 conjunction with him, after a relative of mine had pur¬ 
chased an interest in it for me, that the paper was pub¬ 
lished. Neither Hamlin nor I knew enough about edit¬ 
ing a paper at that time to take the position ourselves; so 
we hired a schoolmaster of the town as editor-in-chief, 
paying him—think of it!—$1.50 per week for his services ; 
and yet, 1 remember distinctly that that $1.50 per week 
served to secure him board and lodging at one of the best 
houses in town. By the way, this schoolmaster-editor of 




34 


ours afterward became a judge on the Supreme Bench of 
the State. 

“We had a circulation of but 500, which my partner, 
Hamlin, declared to be insufficient to support both of us. 
Perhaps he was right; but at all events, he came to me 
with the proposition, ‘ buy or sell,’ and ‘ buy ’ I did, with 
the help of my uncle. I thus became proprietor, editor, 
foreman of the composing room, and still retained my 
old place as printer’s devil. 

“ It was along in the ’3o’s that I made up my mind that 
there was room for a paper like mine in the city of Port¬ 
land, and acting on the decision, at once removed myself 
and effects from Paris to Portland. The removal was 
done by a team, and I remember that we printed the in¬ 
side pages of the paper in Paris before moving, and the 
outside in Portland, thus losing no issue. 


“ Politics in Portland at that time were in a singular con¬ 
dition. The policy of the Eastern Argus , then, with the 
Hartford Times, edited by the afterward Secretary of the 
Navy Gideon Welles, and the Boston Courier , had 
alienated some of its formerly devoted adherents, among 
others Judge Preble, Wade and Gen. Chandler, a veteran 
of the war of 1812. 

“ My paper, still the Jeffersonian, was not in accord 
with their views. I am, and always was, a Democrat, 
but a Union Democrat from the start. I was not in ac¬ 
cord with William Lloyd Garrison, nor with Wendell 
Phillips, believing that the South should be allowed to 
attend to its own affairs in its way, and to settle the 
problem of slavery without the constant caviling and in¬ 
terference of the North. 

“ These malcontents determined upon starting a paper 
of their own, and start it they did, under the name of the 
Standard . But the Jeffersonian was ever ‘a thorn in 
their side,’ and in the latter part of 1837 they made me 
an offer for my paper, its plant, good will, etc., and I 
closed with them, notifying my subscribers that they 




35 

could have the option of receiving the Standard in its 
stead or of receiving their money back. 

“ I was at that time twenty-six years of age, married, 
with two children, and after my debts had all been set¬ 
tled, was worth, perhaps, $1,000, not more than that. Debt 
1 have ever had an abhorrence of, and do not think that 
I ever owed a man for anything longer than a month. 

“ In casting my eyes over the field, Washington 
seemed to offer the most promise in a newspaper sense, 
and shortly after the sale of my paper I removed there, 
taking with me letters of the highest recommendation 
from the then United States senators from Maine, Ruel 
Williams and George Evans, also from all the members 
of Congress from my State, sufficient to-day, I am told, to 
secure any one a foreign mission. 

“ On arriving in Washington, I looked the ground 
over, but nothing promising seemed to offer just then in 
my profession. The little money that I had was fast 
melting away, and 1 determined to apply for an office. 
This I did, at the Post Office Department, presenting my 
letters of recommendation to Postmaster-General Ken¬ 
dall, of Martin Van Buren’s Cabinet, and to my great satis¬ 
faction I was appointed a clerk in that Department at a 
salary of $1,009 g°ld per year. 

“ My first years in the Department were pleasant ones. 
Government employees then enjoyed a good deal of con¬ 
sideration, and it was possible to live very comfortably in 
Washington on $1,000 a year. So much so was it that in 
a few years I had bought and paid for the house in which, 
with considerable additions, my family reside in Wash¬ 
ington to-day. 

“ By virtue of my acquaintance with New England 
matters, I was appointed, shortly after, clerk in charge of 
the New England mails, looking after the letting of 
contracts, subcontracts, etc. It was while in this posi¬ 
tion that I made the acquaintance of nearly all the dis¬ 
tinguished men from New England of that day. 

“ Soon after, I was appointed clerk in charge of the 


36 

foreign mails, the position now known as superintendent 
of foreign mails, and for twelve years I labored, endeavor¬ 
ing to organize that important branch of the postal ser¬ 
vice into some systematic shape. My letters can be found 
to-day in Paris, London, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, St. 
Petersburg—in fact, in nearly every modern capital of 
the world. 

“ It was during the latter part of my service in the for¬ 
eign mails department that the position of chief clerk of 
the department was offered to me, which 1 refused. 

“ It was the Postmaster-General of President Pierce’s 
Cabinet who came to me in 1854 and told me that both 
the President and himself desired me to take the office of 
First Assistant Postmaster-General, and after thinking the 
matter over I finally decided to accept, as much for the 
sake of my family as anything, the salary of the office be¬ 
ing $3,000. 

“When Buchanan was inaugurated President in 1856 
he appointed Gov. Brown, of Tennessee, as his Postmas¬ 
ter-General, and at Brown’s solicitation 1 remained his 
First Assistant Postmaster-General, although I honestly 
expected to be removed, knowing that most of the Cabinet 
were opposed to my appointment. Buchanan at first I 
did not like, but as 1 grew to know him better I learned 
to appreciate him better, and eventually we became warm 
friends, he often sending for me on certain occasions when 
he wanted my advice. 

“ From my post on the inside I could see events hasten¬ 
ing to a climax, from which there seemed no outcome but 
that most terrible of all events, civil war. I was for the 
Union—the Union always—but I thought then, and I 
think now, looking back to those times through the lapse 
of the years, that the North itself had assumed an atti¬ 
tude toward the South which was as bitterly exasperating 
as the constant application of lunar caustic would be to a 
raw sore. The Southerners of any prominence I knew 
and esteemed. They knew that I was a Democrat, but 
they also knew that I was loyal to my section. To me 


37 


they talked freely, and from them I learned to appreciate 
the fact—note this, it is most significant—that to the 
broader-minded of them slavery was indeed a problem 
which they were endeavoring to solve. I know, per¬ 
haps, what the people of the North still do not know, that 
steps were on the point of being taken in Virginia and 
Maryland as early as 1856-57 looking toward a gradual 
freeing of the slaves. But the constant interference from 
the North, the proddings of William Lloyd Garrison, 
whom I remember as having been dragged through the 
streets of Boston with a rope around his neck; of Wen¬ 
dell Phillips, and others of their like, and to crown all, the 
constant disappearance of slaves to the North via the 
‘ underground railway/ put a stop to these efforts of 
large-minded and far-sighted Virginians and Marylanders, 
and consolidated the opposition to Northern aggression. 

“ The afterward President of the Confederacy, Jefferson 
Davis, was then a senator from Mississippi, a cold, re¬ 
served, vain sort of a man, who had been Secretary of War 
in President Pierce’s cabinet. I did not know him very 
well—in fact, I did not want to. 

“ Robert Toombs, of Georgia, haughty, arrogant, even 
insolent, was also a senator. He had the most profound 
contempt for the spirit of the North, but he was afterward 
destined to suffer by it. 

“Events hastened to a close. In 1859, John Brown, 
whose course in Kansas and Nebraska I had watched 
with uneasiness, made his ever memorable raid upon 
Harper’s Ferry. The wave of indignation which swept 
through the South and Southwest thrilled Washington to 
the core. Personally, I had not one atom of sympathy 
for John Brown. I called him then and I call him now a 
murderer. The fact that he was undoubtedly a fanatic, a 
monomaniac upon the subject of slavery, may, in part, 
serve to lessen the magnitude of his crime. 

“ The breach continued to widen. Public men com¬ 
menced to look upon a conflict as unavoidable. 

“In 1859 Postmaster-General Brown, of Tennessee, died, 


38 

and in the interim between his death and the appointment 
of his successor I was the incumbent of the office. The 
new appointee, Judge Holt, of Kentucky, was in every 
way qualified for the place. He was loyal to the core, 
and it was due to his strong influence in his native State 
that Kentucky was saved from going out of the Union in 
1861. I formed a strong friendship with him, which con¬ 
tinues until this day. 

“ The year ’59 passed out and ’60 was ushered in. The 
political atmosphere was ominous. A calm, surcharged 
with electricity, seemed to be brooding over the land. 
Loyal men in Washington were sick with anxiety and an¬ 
ticipation. Day after day, in the Senate and the House, 
seditious speeches were made with scarce a veil of con¬ 
cealment. Treason was rampant. 

“ I knew Buchanan’s Cabinet. I knew Floyd, of Vir¬ 
ginia, Secretary of War ; Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secre¬ 
tary of the Treasury; Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, Sec¬ 
retary of the Navy; and I knew them to be traitors at 
heart. They thought secession must come, and were 
making preparations for it. I know of the stormy sessions 
of the Cabinet, when Buchanan, sick with anxiety and 
physical weakness, would seem to bend before the wordy 
violence of Floyd and Cobb. I have known him to re¬ 
ceive the Cabinet in his own room, wrapped in his dress¬ 
ing gown, so great was his feebleness. 

“Mason and Slidell, of Virginia, and Jefferson Davis 
seemed to have access to him at pleasure, and were wont 
to rage frantically at some real or assumed injury. This 
I learned from Buchanan himself, who occasionally sent 
for me and for my superior in office. 

“ The Vice-President, John C. Breckenridge, of 
Kentucky, was hesitating between the Union and 
secession. A more charming man in person, in deport¬ 
ment and in generosity it would have been hard to find. 
I loved him like a brother. Many a night afterward 
did I walk the floor of the Post Office Department 
building with him, begging and pleading with him to throw 


39 


his weight and influence for the Union, explaining to him 
the condition of sentiment at the North and of its bound¬ 
less resources, prophesying failure and disaster to the 
South; and he hesitated. I will say now, for the first 
time, that I believe that when John C. Breckenridge 
signed the secret articles ol secession he was under the 
influence of his own whisky—in a word, he was drunk. 

“ Buchanan hras been accused almost universally by the 
North of having secretly aided the secessionists; of hav¬ 
ing been hostile to his own section. But in spite of such 
assertions, backed up as they will seem to be with docu¬ 
mentary evidence, I tell you that James Buchanan was a 
Union man at heart. From his talks with me in private 
and from private sources of information I know this—I 
am certain of it. 

“ His sole thought, his one desire, was to put off, to 
ward off, the shadow of disaster which he saw looming up 
in his path—to throw over to the next administration the 
onus of grappling with it. He felt himself to be unequal 
to the task. He was a sick man, broken down by anxiety 
and constant bickerings; a sensitive man, wounded to the 
quick by the distrust of the North. 

“ But finally the acts of his Cabinet became too open, 
too brazen. . 

“ In December, i860, demand was secretly made on 
Floyd and Cobb to hand in their resignations or to 
stand impeachment. As this would have precipitated 
matters to a crisis before they were prepared for it, they 
took advantage of the opportunity prepared for them, 
with the understanding of the President, and resigned 
their portfolios in simulated anger. 

“Judge Holt was at once appointed Secretary of 
War, and I became Postmaster-General, f immediately 
set out for New York on a secret mission, my object 
being to induce John A. Dix, the then postmaster of 
New York, to accept the vacant portfolio of the Treas¬ 
ury. This was at the request of the President. 

“ I had understood at first that Dix was to have had 


40 


the War Department, and that Judge Holt was to come 
back to the Post Office Department, but it was decided 
otherwise. My mission was successful. Gen. Dix ac¬ 
cepted, and became Secretary of the Treasury. Edwin 
M. Stanton, afterward Lincoln’s famous Secretary of 
War, became Attorney-General in place of Jackson. 

“ I performed the duties of Postmaster-General for the 
short remainder of Buchanan’s term, and at Mr. Lin¬ 
coln’s own request for three days under him, so that I 
can say that I have served under ‘ Uncle Abe.’ 

“ In 1862, at the emancipation of the slaves in the Dis¬ 
trict of Columbia, I was appointed one of the Commis¬ 
sion to appraise their separate values. No man against 
whom any overt act against the government could be 
proved was entitled to receive any indemnity, so that the 
decisions in a good many instances were perplexing ones. 

“ The immediate enfranchisement of the negro was, in 
my humble opinion, one of the greatest crimes ever per¬ 
petrated upon the South. 

“ Since the war I have appeared at various times be¬ 
fore committees in favor of claimants, and I have gene¬ 
rally won my case, too. 

“ One thing of which I am proud is the fact that I was 
the means of securing the use of the present official en¬ 
velope of the Departments, although I had a long struggle 
of seven years to secure it. 

“ During the fifty-six years in which I have resided in 
Washington I have seen many great changes. The Post- 
Office Department which, when I first entered it in 1839, 
had perhaps 100 employes, more or less, now numbers an 
army, and the other Departments in like ratio. I have 
seen all the Presidents from Van Buren to Cleve¬ 
land, and two wars, one of them the bloodiest, the 
hardest fought and the longest of modern times. I 
would that I might round out the full century. Even in 
the next seven years I look for some startling changes, 
and 1 should like to be a witness of them; but God’s 
will be done. I would not change His decree if I could.” 


4i 

[.Evening Star , D. C., May 20.] 

HORATIO KING. 

The death to-day of Horatio King takes from the Na¬ 
tional Capital one of its historic citizens. He was one of 
the few remaining men who were identified prominently 
with the stirring days previous to the war of the rebellion, 
and the records of the government are filled with refer¬ 
ences to his work. His impress was left particularly upon 
the postal service of the government, with which he was 
identified in many capacities, rising from an humble clerk¬ 
ship to be the head of that important Department. His 
connection with this great branch of the administration of 
national affairs occurred at a formative period, when ideas 
were of especial value, and to his genius and untiring 
energy was due much of the great progress that has been 
since accomplished. It is a coincidence to be noted that 
his death occurs during the session here of the Interna¬ 
tional Postal Congress. Much of Mr. King’s best work 
was done in the line of developing the foreign postal serv¬ 
ice ; so it may be said that, in a measure, he was responsible 
for the possibility of such a significant gathering as that 
now in session in this city. Mr. King’s unflagging enter¬ 
prise during the later years of his life enabled him to pub¬ 
lish, as recently as two years ago, an interesting and 
important work under the title “ Turning on the Light,” 
in which he set forth much information of unusual value 
regarding the dark days preceding the war, when Wash¬ 
ington was the scene of many stirring events of which 
Mr. King was an observer at close range. Personal par¬ 
ticipation in many episodes bearing heavily upon the fate 
of the nation enabled him to speak with authority, and it 
was fitting that his remarkable career, so replete with 
good deeds and patriotic acts and thoughts, should be 
practically closed with such a work. 


[San Francisco Chronicle.] 

It seems like a revival of another generation to read the 



42 


report of the death of Horatio King, who was Postmaster- 
General during Buchanan's administration, and who 
dropped completely out of all public life and recollection 
more than twenty years ago. Of the men who were his 
contemporaries, very few are now alive, and fewer still 
are active in public affairs. 


[Eastern Argus, Portland, Me.] 

A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF HORATIO KING. 

On the broad pages of the Argus I desire to be enrolled 
as one of the many who grieve because Horatio King is 
dead. 

All are not men who wear the human form : Horatio 
King was a man. 

The remarkable family of which he was a member; his 
native State; the city of his adoption; his country and 
the human race all have cause to revere, to admire and to 
love him. Were I to write his epitaph, it would be: 

“ Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” 

Lariston Ward Small. 


[Boston Transcript , May 20.] 

DEATH OF A VENERABLE PUBLIC SERVANT. 

The death of Hon. Horatio King at the age of eighty- 
six, lacking a month and a day, recalls some of the most 
stirring times of the century when he was an active force 
in public affairs. He was a grandson of a revolutionary 
soldier, and was one of the self-made men of his day. He 
began life as the owner and editor of the Jeffersonian , a 
paper published at one time at Paris, Me., but afterward 
removed to Portland. The name of the journal was in¬ 
dicative of his political predilections. When twenty-eight 
years of age he became identified with the postal service 




43 

of the country by appointment as clerk in the Department, 
and in that service he steadily advanced, by the force of 
his own merits, it may be presumed, as he later came to 
be the head of it, and left a record of ability and progress 
in connection with the position. 

He was appointed First Assistant Postmaster-General 
under President Pierce in 1854, and held that place until 
February, 1861, when he was appointed to the full posi¬ 
tion, though as Acting Postmaster-General he had been 
prominent before that and had, perhaps, more to do with 
the real reforms of the service than the man who was at 
one time nominally his superior. Mr. King was the third 
postmaster-general under Buchanan’s administration. The 
other two were Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, and 
Joseph Holt, of Kentucky, the latter being transferred to 
the War Department. 

It was while acting head of the Department that he was 
questioned by a member of Congress from South Carolina 
with regard to the franking privilege, and in his reply, it 
is said, he was the first officially to deny the right of a 
State to separate from the Union, and his influence was of 
great importance in a Cabinet that was honeycombed with 
treason. He retained the confidence of the new war ad¬ 
ministration, and served on a board of commissioners to 
carry into execution the emancipation law in the District 
of Columbia. He was an intimate friend of the late 
Nahum Capen, of Boston, who was postmaster of this city 
under Buchanan, and established the system of collecting 
letters from street boxes. 

Mr. King always felt a deep interest in all public affairs 
and in the postal service especially. In 1874, 1879 and 
1885, respectively, he was active in securing the passage 
of three acts requiring the use of the official “ penalty en¬ 
velope,” which has saved a great deal to the government. 
It is an interesting coincidence that his death occurs at 
the time that the Universal Postal Congress is sitting in 
the city where his long and valuable labors were devoted 
to the cause which that body is endeavoring to advance. 


44 

\ Utica Observer , May 20.] 


HORATIO KING. 

Until to-day the oldest living ex-Postmaster-General of 
the United States was Horatio King, of Washington, 
father of Gen. Horatio C. King, of Brooklyn, who was our 
Democratic candidate for Secretary of State a few years 
ago. But this morning the old Postmaster-General passed 
away at the ripe age of eighty-five years. 

Gen. King’s service as Postmaster-General was brief, 
but his name is honorably identified with the service. He 
was a printer and an editor and publisher in Paris, Me., 
and went to Washington in 1839 as a clerk in the Post 
Office Department. In 1854 he was appointed First Assist¬ 
ant Postmaster-General. His chief at the beginning of 
1861 was Postmaster-General Joseph Holt. The war was 
coming on. John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, resigned 
preparatory to going with the then future Confederacy. 
President Buchanan did not go out of his Cabinet to find 
Floyd’s successor, but transferred Postmaster-General 
Holt to the War Department, and made King Postmaster- 
General. This was February 12, and Gen. King served 
only until March 7 the same year. In Holt’s absence in 
January preceding, Gen. King, as Acting Postmaster- 
General, had the opportunity, replying to a Southern 
member of Congress, to be the first to officially deny the 
power of a State to separate from the Union. His ap¬ 
pointment as Holt’s successor by Buchanan had therefore 
a significance which ought not to be, but is, generally for¬ 
gotten. 

After his retirement Gen. King remained a resident of 
Washington. He was useful as a commissioner to carry 
into effect the emancipation law in the District of Co¬ 
lumbia. Until 1875 he practiced law before the executive 
departments and international commissions, and then— 
twenty-two years ago—he retired from active life. 


45 

[ Washington Post , May 23.] 

FUNERAL OF HORATIO KING. 

Funeral services over the remains of the late Horatio 
King were held at three o’clock yesterday afternoon at the 
family home, 707 H street Northwest, where he lived for 
nearly fifty-one years. The flags on the public buildings 
were at half-mast during the day, in honor of the late ex- 
Postmaster-General. 

Rev. Dr. Alexander Mackay-Smith, of St. John’s 
Church, conducted the services, and after offering a 
prayer read the brief burial service of the Episcopal 
Church. Music was rendered by a quartet from the As¬ 
sembly Presbyterian Church choir. In compliance with 
the wishes of Mr. King, two hymns, written by himself 
on his trips to Europe, in 1867 and 1875, were sung, one 
to the tune of “ Federal Street,” the other to original 
music, by Prof. Theo. I. King. 

Members of the family present were the widow, the 
eldest son, Gen. Horatio C. King ; a daughter, Mrs. Annie 
A. Cole, and her daughter; Henry F. King, another son, 
and wife ; Cyrus S. King, the only surviving brother of 
Horatio King, and wife and daughter; a nephew, Prof. 
Theo. I. King, and wife; Rev. G. M. P. King, another 
nephew; Miss Jane Maria Seavey, a niece, and Dr. and 
Mrs. Thomas M. Talbot, the latter a sister of Mrs. King. 
Mrs. Horatio C. King was so prostrated by the long ill¬ 
ness and death of her daughter Ethel, who was buried 
on Friday, that she was unable to attend. 

The house was filled with the friends of the deceased, 
and among the many distinguished persons present were: 
SirJulian Pauncefote, Hon. Nelson Dingley and Mrs. Ding- 
ley, Senator and Mrs. William B. Frye, ex-Gov. and Mrs. 
Sidney Perham, Judge Lawrence Weldon and Mrs. Wel¬ 
don, Prof. Simon Newcomb and Miss Newcomb, Prof. 
William Harkness, Prof, and Mrs. John R. Eastman, 
Senator Joseph R. Hawley and Mrs. Hawley, Hon. J. 
Bancroft Davis, Brig.-Gen. John M. Wilson, Hon. A. R. 


46 

Spofford and Miss Spofford, Judge Sanders Johnston, 
Prof. J. W. Hunt, Gen. Curtis, Mr. D. R. Haines, Judge 
Martin F. Morris, Senator John L. Mitchell and Mrs. 
Mitchell, of Wisconsin, J. Ormond Wilson, Mr. James 
Morrell, Mr. John R. Major, Mr. Frederick L. Harvey, 
Mr. William J. Rhees, Mrs. A. L. Hughes, ex Commis¬ 
sioner and Mrs. J. B. Edmonds, Dr. Frank H. Bigelow 
and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Pitkin and others. 

At the request of the family flowers were generally 
omitted, and there were only two beautiful wreaths of 
roses, one in commemoration of his granddaughter, who 
died May 19, and the other from Sir Julian and Lady 
Pauncefote. The casket was covered with plain black 
cloth, and on the foot was placed a sheaf of wheat. 

The interment is to be private, and the body will be 
placed in the Congressional Cemetery on Monday morn¬ 
ing. 

[j Evening Star , May 25.] 

BURIAL OF HORATIO KING. 

The remains of Horatio King were placed in his lot in 
the Congressional Cemetery yesterday morning. Only 
his immediate family and his brother and wife were pres¬ 
ent. On the grave were placed a wreath on behalf of his 
grandchild, Miss Ethel King, of Brooklyn, N. Y„ who 
died May 19, and the beautiful wreath sent to the funeral 
services Ma}^ 22 by Sir Julian and Lady Pauncefote, in 
their loving sympathy. It is an interesting coincidence 
that Mr. King should be laid away on the birthday of 
Queen Victoria, and his last resting place be beautified 
by the offering of her most exalted representative in this 
country. 


[ Washington Times , May 23.] 

HORATIO KING’S OBSEQUIES. 

The funeral services of the late Horatio King were 
conducted at his late residence, No. 707 H street North- 




47 


west, yesterday afternoon, Rev. Dr. Alexander Mackay- 
Smith, rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, officiating. 
The music was furnished by a female quartet from the 
choir of Assembly Church, Mrs. Lelia J. Speer, first so¬ 
prano ; Miss Ella C. Lyman, second soprano; Mrs. 
Blanche Campbell Brown, first alto; Miss Florence R. 
Keene, second alto, directed by Prof. Theo, I. King. 

The service was largely attended by many of the ac¬ 
quaintances of the deceased and was very impressive. 

In compliance with the wishes of the deceased, two 
hymns, written by him on his trips to Europe in 1867 and 
1875? were sung. The first, which was sung to the tune 
of “ Federal Street,” was this: 

Great God, we come with grateful hearts, 

To offer up our thanks to Thee ; 

For all Thy mercies, all Thy care 
Of us, Thy children, on the sea. 

Oh ! bear us safely to the shore ; 

With one united voice we pray ; 

To Thee we look—Thee we adore— 

To Thee our heartfelt homage pay. 

Watch o’er us evermore, and guide 
Our footsteps wheresoe’er we be ; 

In storm, or sunshine, oh ! abide 
With us, Thy children, on the sea. 

Then shall we feel no dread alarm ; 

Our souls will rest in peace on Thee ; 

Our trust sincere ; safe from all harm ; 

Behold Thy children on the sea. 

After the reading of the Episcopal burial service, the 
second hymn was sung to original music. 


For Female Voices. 

Composed for and sung at the funeral of Horatio King, May 22,18'J7. 

Words by Horatio King. Music by Theo I. King. 



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2 0 God, in Thee vve trust; 

On Jesus’ bosom must 
Our safety be; 

Then would we ever rest 
Our heads upon His breast— 
The haven e’er the best, 

On land or sea. 


3 Oh, take us safe to shore; 

Thy guidance we implore 
From day to day; 

To Thee our thanks we bring; 
Give us all hearts to sing 
The praises of our King— 

His will obey. 





















































































































































































49 


The relatives present were the widow of the deceased; 
his son, Gen. Horatio C. King ; his daughter, Mrs. Annie 
A. Cole, and her daughter; his son, Henry F. King, and 
wife ; his only surviving brother, Cyrus S. King, wife and 
daughter; his nephew. Prof. Theo I. King, and wife ; 
his nephew. Rev. G. M P. King; his niece, Miss Jane 
Maria Seavey, and Dr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Talbot, the 

latter a sister of Mrs. Horatio King. 

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